Folk Horror: Creating a Campaign Bible
Folk Horror: Creating a Campaign Bible is a system-neutral guide to building and maintaining a bible for fantasy roleplaying. A bible, also called a series bible, is a working document that keeps everything about a setting organized, from overarching themes to small but important details. Writers use them all the time, especially in television, where consistency matters across multiple episodes and seasons. There’s nothing religious about the term, despite what bad-faith arguments might claim. It’s a tool, one that helps you track the key elements of your setting so you don’t contradict yourself or lose track of what makes it unique.
This book focuses on folk horror, a genre built on isolation, old traditions, and the creeping sense that something isn’t right. Folk horror thrives on hidden histories, landscapes with a memory, and communities with rules outsiders don’t understand. When a roleplaying setting leans into this genre, the details matter even more. Keeping track of regional superstitions, forbidden places, and the subtle ways fear manifests ensures a setting that feels lived-in rather than thrown together.
Folk horror stories work best when the environment itself plays a role. A remote village isn’t scary on its own, but if the trees always seem to lean toward the roads, if the old well never dries up no matter how hot the summer gets, if the people refuse to name whatever they’re afraid of, those details build tension. A bible helps maintain that slow-burn atmosphere. It keeps track of patterns, so the setting unfolds naturally rather than feeling like a collection of disconnected ideas.
The book provides guidance on structuring a bible, organizing information in a way that makes sense during play, and balancing the need for consistency with the flexibility to improvise. It also explores folk horror’s specific needs, from crafting unsettling rituals to defining how isolation shapes a community’s fears. Folk horror relies on ambiguity, but ambiguity works best when it’s controlled, not when it comes from forgetting what was already established. A well-maintained bible prevents that.
This isn’t about locking everything in place before a roleplaying session even begins. It’s about creating a foundation, something to build on. Folk horror thrives on mystery, but mystery doesn’t mean making things up as you go with no regard for continuity. The best horror feels inevitable, like every strange rule, every whispered warning, every seemingly minor superstition is leading somewhere. That only works if the pieces fit together, and that’s what a campaign bible is for.
Whether you’re building a setting from scratch or deepening an existing one, Folk Horror: Creating a bible gives you the structure to make it work. It helps keep track of the unsettling details that make folk horror effective while leaving room for discoveries along the way. If your setting is the kind where people leave offerings at crossroads but refuse to explain why, or where an old festival happens every year even though no one claims to enjoy it, this book will help make sure it all holds together.
131 pages. PDF and epub files included.
Folk Horror: Creating a Campaign Bible is a system-neutral guide to building and maintaining a bible for fantasy roleplaying. A bible, also called a series bible, is a working document that keeps everything about a setting organized, from overarching themes to small but important details. Writers use them all the time, especially in television, where consistency matters across multiple episodes and seasons. There’s nothing religious about the term, despite what bad-faith arguments might claim. It’s a tool, one that helps you track the key elements of your setting so you don’t contradict yourself or lose track of what makes it unique.
This book focuses on folk horror, a genre built on isolation, old traditions, and the creeping sense that something isn’t right. Folk horror thrives on hidden histories, landscapes with a memory, and communities with rules outsiders don’t understand. When a roleplaying setting leans into this genre, the details matter even more. Keeping track of regional superstitions, forbidden places, and the subtle ways fear manifests ensures a setting that feels lived-in rather than thrown together.
Folk horror stories work best when the environment itself plays a role. A remote village isn’t scary on its own, but if the trees always seem to lean toward the roads, if the old well never dries up no matter how hot the summer gets, if the people refuse to name whatever they’re afraid of, those details build tension. A bible helps maintain that slow-burn atmosphere. It keeps track of patterns, so the setting unfolds naturally rather than feeling like a collection of disconnected ideas.
The book provides guidance on structuring a bible, organizing information in a way that makes sense during play, and balancing the need for consistency with the flexibility to improvise. It also explores folk horror’s specific needs, from crafting unsettling rituals to defining how isolation shapes a community’s fears. Folk horror relies on ambiguity, but ambiguity works best when it’s controlled, not when it comes from forgetting what was already established. A well-maintained bible prevents that.
This isn’t about locking everything in place before a roleplaying session even begins. It’s about creating a foundation, something to build on. Folk horror thrives on mystery, but mystery doesn’t mean making things up as you go with no regard for continuity. The best horror feels inevitable, like every strange rule, every whispered warning, every seemingly minor superstition is leading somewhere. That only works if the pieces fit together, and that’s what a campaign bible is for.
Whether you’re building a setting from scratch or deepening an existing one, Folk Horror: Creating a bible gives you the structure to make it work. It helps keep track of the unsettling details that make folk horror effective while leaving room for discoveries along the way. If your setting is the kind where people leave offerings at crossroads but refuse to explain why, or where an old festival happens every year even though no one claims to enjoy it, this book will help make sure it all holds together.
131 pages. PDF and epub files included.
Folk Horror: Creating a Campaign Bible is a system-neutral guide to building and maintaining a bible for fantasy roleplaying. A bible, also called a series bible, is a working document that keeps everything about a setting organized, from overarching themes to small but important details. Writers use them all the time, especially in television, where consistency matters across multiple episodes and seasons. There’s nothing religious about the term, despite what bad-faith arguments might claim. It’s a tool, one that helps you track the key elements of your setting so you don’t contradict yourself or lose track of what makes it unique.
This book focuses on folk horror, a genre built on isolation, old traditions, and the creeping sense that something isn’t right. Folk horror thrives on hidden histories, landscapes with a memory, and communities with rules outsiders don’t understand. When a roleplaying setting leans into this genre, the details matter even more. Keeping track of regional superstitions, forbidden places, and the subtle ways fear manifests ensures a setting that feels lived-in rather than thrown together.
Folk horror stories work best when the environment itself plays a role. A remote village isn’t scary on its own, but if the trees always seem to lean toward the roads, if the old well never dries up no matter how hot the summer gets, if the people refuse to name whatever they’re afraid of, those details build tension. A bible helps maintain that slow-burn atmosphere. It keeps track of patterns, so the setting unfolds naturally rather than feeling like a collection of disconnected ideas.
The book provides guidance on structuring a bible, organizing information in a way that makes sense during play, and balancing the need for consistency with the flexibility to improvise. It also explores folk horror’s specific needs, from crafting unsettling rituals to defining how isolation shapes a community’s fears. Folk horror relies on ambiguity, but ambiguity works best when it’s controlled, not when it comes from forgetting what was already established. A well-maintained bible prevents that.
This isn’t about locking everything in place before a roleplaying session even begins. It’s about creating a foundation, something to build on. Folk horror thrives on mystery, but mystery doesn’t mean making things up as you go with no regard for continuity. The best horror feels inevitable, like every strange rule, every whispered warning, every seemingly minor superstition is leading somewhere. That only works if the pieces fit together, and that’s what a campaign bible is for.
Whether you’re building a setting from scratch or deepening an existing one, Folk Horror: Creating a bible gives you the structure to make it work. It helps keep track of the unsettling details that make folk horror effective while leaving room for discoveries along the way. If your setting is the kind where people leave offerings at crossroads but refuse to explain why, or where an old festival happens every year even though no one claims to enjoy it, this book will help make sure it all holds together.
131 pages. PDF and epub files included.